


Hit The Reset Button

by Kingofthenerdz



Series: Now and Then [1]
Category: Saints Row
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-27
Updated: 2016-09-21
Packaged: 2018-07-18 11:33:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7313641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kingofthenerdz/pseuds/Kingofthenerdz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Johnny reset the world, he didn't realise just how much he was going to reset. Now it's time to get the band back together and everybody's memories back. Including a few faces no one thought that they would ever see again...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Lt. Johnny Gat, officer of the Law

**Author's Note:**

> If the world is reset, what does that mean for everybody? Where are they? What have they been doing?

Johnny was the first to wake up. He had dreamt of purple for years, never knowing what it meant, but it was like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle had finally clicked into place. When Brimstone had slid over a picture of a fleur-de-lis all he could think was telling Juilus how stupid it looked. And then it all came rushing back. He excused himself from the interview and locked himself in his office.

He was Lt. Johnny Gat. He put bad guys away. While his methods weren’t always above board, he got results. He got great results. Better than pretty much the rest of the Stilwater PD combined. He worked with Kinsie Kensington and was training Matt Miller and as a team they were unstoppable. There was no such thing as the Saints here.

The Saints… How did he even know that name? If they never existed, why did he have so many memories of them? He remembered Julius, Dex, Troy… The Boss…  
He stood up, knocking his chair over. He was going crazy. That’s it. He was finally losing his mind. They said this might happen when he took the police test. Something about having ”psychopathic tendencies” and “no empathy”. No empathy. He performed clean kills when he had to, wasn’t that sympathetic enough?

“Johnny, the Chief is pissed. Why did you leave that interview?” Kinzie rushed into their office.

“Kinzie, do you remember when I punched Satan in the face?”

“Johnny you have never-“ She froze. “Wait, what?”

“You’ve gotta rememeber, because I’m gonna go fucking crazy if I’m the only one.” Her hand made it’s way up to cover her mouth.

“Oh my god. Oh my god.” She looked at him, and then around the office. “You’re a police officer. I’m a police officer.”

“Can we skip the shock and get to finding our friends?”

“Hey guys, what’s going on?” Matt was stood in the doorway, a stack of papers in his hands.

“Sit down kid. It’s time to do some research.” Johnny pointed at Matt’s desk and sat in front of his own computer. 

 

**-**

 

“Do you not pay any attention to popular culture?” Kinzie said from behind her computer.

“Fuck. That. Like I give a shit what’s going on in the lives of rich, talentless people.” Johnny threw himself on the office sofa.

“You should probably have a look at this though.” Matt piped up from his side of the room. It had taken a while for them to get some of his memories back, but there were huge gaps. He remembered almost nothing of leaving Steelport and the time on the spaceship. He could place Johnny’s face, but he didn’t know why he knew him. Kinzie had promised to figure out a way to unlock his memories or something, but Johnny had a suspicion that she was just going to electrocute him a little for fun. Actually, he might get in on that too…

“I just told you that I don’t give a shit about celebrity gossip.”

“It’s about the Boss.” He jumped up.

“What about her?”

“I thought you didn’t want to know about rich and talentless people?”

“Kinzie, I swear to fucking god…” She turned around the screen and there she was. She was a lot younger than the last time he had seen her, but so were the rest of them. Countless articles about her party girl ways, the fact she was the sole heir to rich family, her extensive love life including her recent ex-fiancée…

“Jesus fucking Christ.” Scrolling through the articles, he felt his jaw drop. Was this what her life would have been without the Saints?

“I know.” Kinzie was smirking. He had a feeling that the Boss would never live this down.

“How do we know she’ll remember? Matt can barely remember anything. What if we’re just flukes?”

“She’ll remember. I know it.”

“But-“ He cut her off.

“She’ll fucking remember!” He was angry now. If she didn’t remember, he didn’t know what he would do. The city was overrun with the gangs, and people were leaving in droves. She was the only person who managed to make it to the top and keep them as the only ones in power- not to mention that she had done it twice in this city. She used to hire him out purely to murder and destroy. Those were some great fucking times. And now he remembered, he would do anything to get them back.

“I don’t even know how to get close to her.” Kinzie was frantically scrolling.

“I found her house?” Matt said quietly.

“How did you find that?” Kinzie was over at his desk like a shot.

“I read a couple articles?”

“We can’t just storm her house, we would definitely get arrested.”

“Kinzie, we’re cops. We’re storming the house.” 

 

**-**

  

Getting to the house itself was a lot harder than he thought. This is why he left the planning and leadership to Am. He hated doing it. He preferred to walk in and shoot the place up and be done with it. He hadn’t realised that there were gated communities in Stilwater, but according to Kinzie the extra security was because of how bad the gang problem was getting. Flashing his badge only got him so far with no questions asked, but once he got to the gate of her house, he was challenged. Kinzie managed to come up with a better lie than he ever could- investigating burglaries in the area, why didn’t he think of that?

“You really think this’ll work?” He hesitated.

“I don’t fucking know.”

“Johnny, we are literally at her front door!” He rang the doorbell. It took a moment, but then he could hear heels heading toward them. The door swung open, and he was face to face with her. It was like going back in time. She was definitely younger, her once purple hair was now brunette and swept up off of her shoulders.

“Can I help you?”

“Hi, we’re from the Stilwater PD and we’re investigating burglaries in the area- can we come in?” Kinzie smiled, putting on her “responsible police voice”.

“Uh, yeah whatever. I don’t have long though.”

“That’s fine, this shouldn’t take long.” They stepped inside and closed the door. Once the door was closed, Johnny grabbed her.

“Hey, what the fuck!”

“Boss, you’ll forgive us soon.”

“Let me go!” Throwing her onto a dining chair, Johnny tied her down with his handcuffs.

“Boss, I need you to remember.”

“Are you talking to me? Remember what?” Am frowned.

“Johnny, I told you this was a bad idea.”

“Just go watch the fucking door.” Kinzie shrugged and left them alone.

“Am, why don’t you remember?” She shook her head.

“That’s not my name, idiot.”

“You specifically told me your name because it’s fucking stupid and you hate it.”

“My name is Saph. Have you been living under a rock or something, or are you always this fucking stupid?”

“You are going to kill me.” He sighed. “Amethyst, you need to remember who I am.” She froze.

“I thought I told you never to call me that.”

“Boss?” She sighed.

“Yep, it’s me.” He pulled her into a hug.

“Hey, ow! I’m still tied up you know?” He uncuffed her and she stood.

“What the fuck happened? One minute I was back on the ship after that whole Hell disaster, and now I’m here.” She rubbed her temples.

“I met God.”

“Shut the fuck up.” She turned to him in shock.

“He gave me a bunch of choices and I chose to reset the earth. Without the Saints.”

“Wait, you gave up being a Saint to save the world? I never thought I’d see the day that Johnny Gat was a real hero.”

“And if you repeat that to anyone, I can’t be held responsible for my actions.” She laughed.

“Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me.” Kinzie came back in.

“I got bored of watching the door.” Am pulled Kinzie into a hug.

“You guys have no idea how good it is to see you.” Kinzie backed off, obviously unnerved by the sudden contact.

“So what now, Boss?”

“We get the band back together?”

 

**-**

 

It took an hour for Matt to bring the stuff over to the house. Setting up the computers in the living room, their search began. Looking for any traces they could find, they scoured the internet for their friends. Am had made a list and Kinzie was going down it.

“Wait, are we not going to get Keith back?”

“Fuck no, leave him be. Poor guy got dragged into our shit by accident. Let him live out his life this time.” Johnny nodded in agreement. Not that he didn’t like him, but he was wary of him after the whole betraying them to help Zinyak thing. He didn’t fucking like backstabbers. Usually he would literally stab them in the back, but it was Keith David.

“What about Ben?”

“Ben’s dead.” Am said without even flinching.

“Are you kidding?”

“She’s not. He died a couple months before you transferred here.”

“In this world, when he was overthrown, we weren’t there to help. Anthony and Warren took over and he was killed. I was working with Ben at the time on a project and had to cut all ties with the company.”

“Wow. Okay, so no to Ben. How about Shaundi and Pierce?”

“If we’re going by what we would be without the Saints? Shaundi is probably at the University getting high still. I have no idea where Pierce would be” Johnny’s phone rang out, interrupting them.

“Hang on, Troy’s calling me.” Am looked over at him in shock. He silenced the phone.

“Troy, Troy?” He was silent.

“Johnny, is he alive?”

“Without the Saints, he never went undercover. So he never met you.”

“And he never put a gun in his mouth because of me.” Blunt but true.

“Wait, if Troy is alive, would that mean that other people you’ve known and killed would be alive too?” Am and Johnny shrugged.

“I don’t know. But if they are, I’m pretty excited to put them back in the fucking ground.”

“Put Lin and Dex on that list too. Call Troy back and get him up here.”

“Fuck Dex! Boss, you can’t be serious.”

“Johnny, if we’re doing this we’ll need all the help we can get. If he doesn’t cooperate then you can kill him again, okay?” He sighed and picked his phone back up. 

 

 **-**  

 

“Fuck me, the Third Street Saints. I’ve always wondered why I had such weird dreams.” It hadn’t taken long for him to remember that he had been in the Saints, but he definitely hadn’t remembered the fact that he was undercover, or what happened after Am had been blown up. Johnny wasn’t happy about bringing Troy into this, especially after what Am had admitted to him about what had gone on between them back in Stilwater, but she was right. To be the ones taking over the city, they needed a gang, and to do that they needed all the help they could get.

“I got a hit on Lin!” Kinzie waved at them.

“I’ve got one on Dex.”

“Are we still sure we want to go after Dex? I’m still not convinced I want him around.” Johnny was lounging on the sofa, looking bored.

“Jesus, what did he do?” Troy asked, looking at Kinzie and Matt in interest.

“Doesn’t matter right now. Johnny think you can pick him up without killing him?” Am stood up and moved over to the computers.

“I can’t make any promises.” Am definitely was overestimating his ability to keep his cool around that prick.

“That’ll do. I’ll go grab Lin and we’ll meet back here?”

 

**-**

 

Okay, so picking Dex up off the street in a stolen car wasn’t his brightest idea. He now had a police tail and a guy in the backseat who was trying to kick the door in. His patience was wearing thin and the promise he had made to Am was gradually being forgotten. Pulling his phone out of his pocket, he dialled Kinzie.

_Johnny, the boss was back ages ago, where the hell are you?_

“Ran into a couple of issues, nothing I can’t handle.”

_Are you- Are those sirens? What did you do?_

“I told you, I’m handling it.” He could hear Am on the other side of the line telling Kinzie to give her the phone.

_What the fuck did you do?_

“Picked him up like you asked. Might’ve been seen by the police though.”

_Did they recognise you?_

“How stupid do you think I am?”

 _I don’t know, you’ve done some pretty stupid stuff in your life. Kinzie, can you get his tail off of him?_ He heard Kinzie protesting, but she was cut off pretty quickly.

“Kinzie, call an emergency worse than this and get them the fuck away from this side of town.”

A few moments later, the police cars turned down a side road, leaving him alone and free to take Dex back to the house. Putting his foot down, he sped up the road, wishing that Dex would shut the fuck up.


	2. Getting the ball rolling...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The ball starts rolling, and Am has to make some tough decisions.

“Is everyone seriously just going to hang out in my house and eat all my food, or are we going to work on getting Pierce and Shaundi back?” Am said as she paced her kitchen, hands on her hips. She was getting impatient. Not that she didn’t like Julius’ lieutenants; it’s just that they were just that. Julius’ lieutenants. Not hers.

 

“Relax, Boss. Kinzie’s working on Dex and Lin as we speak. Not that I wanted that motherfucker-“

“Johnny, I didn’t ask for your opinion on Dex’s character, I need to know that we’re doing something.”

“Again, what did Dex do?” Troy asked over his coffee.

“You did worse.” Am swatted at Johnny and motioned for him to stop talking. They were not going down that road until they had to.

“Why won’t anyone tell me what happened in the last life?”

“Because it doesn’t matter now. Do you two not have jobs that you need to go to?” Troy checked his watch and stood up, finishing his cup. Am was so glad that that distraction worked.

“I still don’t get why you want us to go to these fucking things. I don’t wanna be a fucking cop.”

“I need people on the inside, Johnny. You know that. You can get better information with their leads and who’s paying them off than I can without a crew.”

“Then go get a fucking crew!” He sounded like a petulant child. Which he was most of the time.

“Yeah, that’ll go down super-well.” Am rolled her eyes at him. “We need some more time before we go public. We can’t make any mistakes here or we’re all screwed.” Johnny looked almost ready to stamp his feet when Lin emerged from the next room.

“My head is fucking killing me.” She sat at the counter and put her head in her hands. Am moved over to her, pouring a cup of coffee. When she realised Lin was still alive, her heart had almost stopped. Lin was the first person who had died because of her. Because she hadn’t been able to save her. The first person she had begun to think about really giving her heart to and then it had been over before it had even begun. It was a real head fuck having her, Troy _and_ Johnny all in the same room together.

“What do you remember?”

“Jesus, not much. I was undercover and then nothing.” She looked Am up and down “You definitely did not look like that.”

“Yeah, turned out she wasn’t actually a dude. Go figure we ended up with the female Gat.” Troy not-so-helpfully supplied from across the room.

“I knew she wasn’t. I just meant that she actually looks like a woman now.” Lin shrugged.

“Lin and Eesh always knew. Apparently the women of the Saints have always been smarter than the guys.” Johnny froze.

“Wait, if these guys are alive, does that mean Eesh would be too?” Am stopped dead. She had been dreading this conversation. In her “new” life, Eesh was one of her closest friends. And knowing Johnny, if he knew she was alive he would do anything to get her back. It was so selfish of her, but she didn’t know and hadn’t asked if he remembered what was said between them on the ship. And with Eesh in the picture, she wouldn’t be given a second look. The idea made her heart ache in ways that she hadn’t felt for years.

“If she’s alive, it doesn’t mean she’d remember.” Am managed, not looking at him. He knew her better than that though, and was over to her before she could blink.

“You know something. What do you know.” He grabbed her arm, but she pulled it away, still avoiding his eyes.

“Nothing.”

“Bull. Shit.”

“Johnny, do you not remember what happened or something? If I’m excluding people from this, it’s to keep them safe.” Carlos. Aisha. If it were up to her, she wouldn’t have pulled Matt back in, but that decision hadn’t been up to her.

“But it’s alright to pull Lin back into this?”

“I make my own fucking decisions, Johnny.” Lin interrupted and Troy was looking between the two of them, not saying anything.

“Did Kinzie tell you that you fucking died?”

“I… What?”

“Thanks, Johnny.”

“I think I’d remember that?” Lin looked so confused, and Am couldn’t bear to look at them. There were too many people sat in her kitchen who’s blood she had on her hands. Am’s phone rang, interrupting a very awkward silence. Checking the caller ID, she held up her hand.

“We’ll finish this later. I have to go.”

“You’re damn fucking right we’ll be talking about this later.” Johnny growled before storming out the front door. Troy looked between the two women in the room before shrugging and following him outside. Sighing, she sat down at the counter.

“You okay?” Lin asked, putting her hand on her arm.

“Yeah, this is just so complicated and weird. I’m still trying to wrap my head around it.” Complicated was definitely one way of putting it. If everyone got their full memories back, she would have to have a few very awkward conversations that she definitely did not want to have.

“You’re telling me- at least you were actually there when this happened.”

“I really do have to go though. I still have to play the part of a spoiled heiress.” Am got up off of her seat, picking up her handbag.

“You mean you’re going to see Aisha.”

“How did you know?” Am asked, confused. And then she remembered- she was a well-known figure, Aisha was still doing music and their friendship was very well documented in the media.

“I read those crappy magazines when I’m on my break.” Lin shrugged casually. “Just be glad Johnny doesn’t pay attention to that shit.”

“I’m not worried about him. I’m worried about her.”

“What happened?”

“She was murdered.” Her phone was going off again, she was already ridiculously late for their spa day.

“Go. I’m sure your tech guys can fill me in. I’ll be at my shop if you need me.”

 

**-**

 

She couldn’t relax. Eesh didn’t pick up on it, though Am felt like she wasn’t hiding it well at all. She was chatting away happily enough and Am was nodding along. Could she justify bringing her back into this? She starting to become less sure about Troy and Dex, but they’d need all the help they could get. She’d just have to keep a close eye on them. Something that would be a lot easier when Kinzie found Pierce and Shaundi. Johnny was a loose canon and couldn’t be trusted with something like this. His answer would definitely just be to kill them both.

 

“Are you seeing anyone then?” Eesh interrupted her thoughts, pulling her back to reality. They’d moved onto a nail salon at this point, and with her hands in the clutches of the nail technician she couldn’t even try to escape.

“I.. Uh… Not really?” She offered, avoiding her questioning gaze.

“Not really?” Aisha’s eyebrows were raised. Am hated avoiding the question, but she honestly didn’t know the answer. Like she’d told Lin before, it was complicated and it was messing with her head.

“Some people have recently come back into my life at the same time and things are… Complicated.” Eesh smiled fondly at her.

“You’ve never been good at relationships have you?” Am couldn’t help but laugh. She’d hit the nail on the head. She was terrible at relationships. In her longest one in either life she’d pretty much refused to admit that it was a real relationship and hadn’t even entertained the idea of telling him how she felt. She didn’t do that feelings shit. Eesh was waiting for an answer though, so she decided to edit the truth a little bit just to put her out of her misery.

 

“Well.. One of them, it never really happened. We were close and we could’ve been more but she had to… move away without warning.” Eesh nodded, listening intently. Am knew that she was just trying to look out for her after her disastrous history with relationships. She was such a good friend, she was starting to feel guilty for not telling her the truth. Eesh was motioning for her to continue, so she took a deep breath.

 

“Then there was this guy that I was seeing for a while…” How did she even begin to explain what happened with Troy? “It ended badly. He told me he loved me, and I didn’t feel the same.” That was a definite oversimplification of things, but it would do. She wasn’t going to open that can of worms again.

 

“Well, I think you can rule him out then.” Am smiled.

“Don’t worry, I’m not going down that road again. It’s just that he’s also friends with the last guy.”

“And what’s the deal with the last guy?” There was that guilty feeling again. She didn’t want to have to do this, but she couldn’t lie to her.

“We uh… We were together a long time. Then he left and we didn’t speak for a long time. We got back into contact and we started things again, but he left again.”

“He left? Twice?”

“It wasn’t his choice. Either time.”

“I’d say ditch him. So not worth it.” _Oh how wrong you are_ Am thought to herself.

“It’s more complicated than that.”

“How? He sounds like a flake. Dump. Him.” Am chewed on her lip as the nail technician finished up. Taking her phone out of her bag, she scrolled through the messages as Aisha picked out the colour she wanted. If it were anyone else, she probably would’ve dumped him by now. That was her usual MO, never really staying with someone long enough to form a real connection. But for some reason, Johnny had pushed his way past her barriers and she had let him. He knew more about her than anyone else, and that terrified her.

 

**-**

 

“Why didn’t you tell me?” His voice rang out, interrupting the silence

“Because I needed to assess-“

“Am that’s bullshit and we both know it.” There was so much space between them, but neither of them moved to correct that. She could barely look at him.

“I couldn’t live with myself if she died again. I couldn’t do that to you.” He closed the space between them, fingers tracing her jaw.

“She needs to know.”

“No, she doesn’t. The more she keeps out of this, the better. I don’t want to see her end up dead again because of me!” She punched his chest as she spoke. Not hard enough to do any damage, but enough to make him take a step back.

“Why do you keep fuckin’ doing this? It wasn’t your fuckin’ fault!” She didn’t have to see his eyes to know that he was glaring at her. Of course he believed that it was his fault and his fault alone.

“Johnny, you know that I should’ve known! I should’ve been more careful, I should’ve had someone at her house when we weren’t there!” She shouted, and then caught herself. She didn’t really want to wake everyone up with this. His gaze softened. This was an argument that neither of them could win and Am knew that.

“You couldn’t have stopped it. If there’s anything I learned in that fuckin’ mind prison is that there was nothing we could have done.” Pressing her head against his chest, she tried to control herself. She couldn’t think about this.

 

Then his lips were on hers, his body desperately pressing her against the wall. She tangled her fingers in his hair, moaning as he lifted her up in a move that she knew all too well. She raked her fingernails down his back, digging in just enough to entice a groan from him as he trailed kisses down her neck.

 

“We shouldn’t do this.” He muttered against her throat, hand sliding up her thigh.

“We’ve said that way too many times before.” She was undoing buttons on his shirt, her free hand dipping down into his waistband. He froze and stopped her hand from stripping him of his shirt.

“Am, this is… It’s not..” Am swallowed thickly. She knew where he was going with this. Not many things could render Johnny Gat speechless, and she didn’t want to have this conversation with him anymore.

“Fine.” She pushed him off of her, pulling her skirt back down.

“I didn’t-“ He growled, putting his head in his hand.

“Don’t. You said it yourself. We shouldn’t do that.” Icing him out was her best option at this point. Concentrating her energy on that meant that she wasn’t concentrating on how much the rejection stung. He was the one who had started it, not her.

“I’m gonna go see where we’re at on Shaundi and Pierce. I would recommend that you get out of my house before I come back.”


	3. Shaundi the Geek

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If the theme is "What would we be without the Saints", no one could've guessed what would've happened to Shaundi in the new world.

“Kinzie, what is it that I’m supposed to be looking for here?” Am had been scrolling through pages and pages of records for hours, but she hadn’t found anything. She was starting to forget why she’d even sat down in front of the computer in the first place.

“You said Shaundi was a student at the University before she was a Saint, right? So she should be somewhere in those records. I just can’t find where.”

“If you couldn’t find it, what makes you think I will? Fuck Kinzie, she could be anywhere.”

“You knew her when she was ‘fun Shaundi’, where do you think she’d be?” Am let out a puff of air. Shaundi could be anywhere across the city. She’d joined the Saints when she’d been suspended from the University for being thrown in prison. It was only a small possession charge, but the University officials had uncovered a lot more that they kept from the police, as long as Shaundi stayed suspended.

“I could go to her dad’s place, but I don’t think that would go down well.” The guy wasn’t her biggest fan in the previous universe, and she doubted that would change very much in this world. She could always track down her little brothers, but if they were reset too, they’d be kids again.

“We’ll save that as a plan B.”

“Plan A- I’ll grab Troy and Dex and we’ll go bust some parties on campus. She’s gotta be at one of them.”

 

**-**

 

As they made their way down the highway, the silence was deafening. She’d let Troy drive, not bothering to protest as she slid into the passenger seat. His car was his baby- she knew that from experience. She’d managed to scratch the hood once before he died and he hadn’t spoken to her for weeks. Dex had tried to complain about being stuck in the back but she just gave him a glare that said “I’m the Boss, I sit shotgun” and he shut up very quickly.

“So kid, where first?” Troy asked, turning off the main road and killing the engine.

“Kinzie said that according to their ‘pages’ or whatever that there’s parties at three locations that she definitely knows about, but she’s checking for more while we break these up.”

“And how exactly are we breaking these up?” She held up the shotgun she’d stashed by her feet when she got in the car. Troy sighed.

“You’re too much like Johnny.” She shrugged.

“We’ve been best friends for a very long time.” She turned to look at Dex “Seeing as I’m the only one who knows what she looks like, I’m gonna need you two to do the majority of the shooting and mugging. You bring what I told you?”

“Yes… Boss.” The way he said it showed that he was still uncomfortable with acknowledging that she was in charge now. She didn’t blame him for not liking it. In his mind, Julius had just been arrested and the Saints were in control of the city. She was still just a kid to them both, despite being five years older than when they knew her best. He was probably annoyed that she was the one in charge and not him. Dex had always been ambitious- she could tell that much when she tracked him down after killing Vogel. He’d made a good name for himself in Ultor’s private security sector and had been making a lot of money. But he’d also been living in fear of what she was going to do to him. And if he remembered what she put him through at the end…

Let’s just say, it wasn’t pretty.

“Hopefully we can do this without the police noticing, but I’ve got Lin and Johnny ready to raise hell somewhere else if we them off our backs.” Am pulled on the mask, tying her hair up in a ponytail.

“I’m gonna have a huge headache when I go to work tomorrow ain’t I?” Troy put his own mask on, loading his gun.

“Depends on how long this takes.” Am grinned at him, loading the gun. She could see the two men shaking their heads at her as she got out of the car and walked towards the first apartment.

 

The party wasn’t that loud, but it wasn’t that late yet. Taking their positions at either side of the door, Troy and Am looked to Dex to kick the door in. When she nodded, he charged into the room. Am glanced over at Troy who had taken a moment to get himself ready. It had been a while since he had done anything like this and his first instinct wasn’t to act like a gangster. He was a cop, and he showed it at times like this. Am would jump into danger headfirst not thinking about the consequences, but Troy? Him and Dex were always more calculated, had always planned things a little more than other people. She’d learned later that planning was important, but in the early days she would’ve done anything for the adrenaline rush that came from almost dying.

 

Following Dex in, she pointed her guns at the teenagers in the room. Quickly scanning their faces, she saw none that she recognised. She waved her gun to indicate for Dex and Troy to begin robbing the kids. Making it look like a robbery had been Dex’s idea. Just going in with guns and breaking up parties was a job for the police, not a random group that weren’t apparently affiliated with any of the gangs in the city. This way they looked like opportunity criminals rather than a gang. Shaking her head at her companions she stormed back out of the door, loading up the next location on her phone. It was only around the corner, so it took them a few minutes to walk over there.

“Your friend is hard to find, kid.” Troy said, jogging up to her.

“Tell me about it.” Am sighed, taking position again against the second apartment.

 

The moment they burst through the door, they knew they’d made a huge mistake. The room was a sea of blue, all sat around drinking and laughing. They stopped the moment the three of them entered, staring at the newcomers. Both groups were frozen for a few moments while they realised what was happening. Then the Rollerz members all reached for their guns.

“Dex, out now!” Am shouted, pulling at Troy’s jacket as they began running away from the party. She could hear the guys from the party running after them, and then gunshots rang out.

“Split up! Meet back at the house!” She shouted over her shoulder at Dex before pushing Troy towards a different path to where she was running.

 

Ducking into the nearest building, she watched as the blue figures ran past, shouting to each other that she’d run in a different direction. Letting out a breath, she moved further into the building. They’d be all over campus by now; hiding out was the best option for the moment. Quickly sending a text to Troy telling him that she was safe, she put her gun down on the table in front of her, taking the mask off so she could see the room properly. Quickly figuring out that it must be the library, she scanned the room for any people. Not that many people should be in the library in the middle of the night, but this was Stilwater after all. There were some very strange people in this city; she wouldn’t be surprised if some of them were in here too. Picking the gun back up and strolling through the isles, she leisurely scanned the books. She remembered that this library was the newest part of the recently built University, so it didn’t surprise her that the books seemed in almost pristine condition. Moving further into the building, she could hear crashing and shouting from outside, but no one seemed to notice the library in the chaos that seemed to be raging.

“I want my money back! I expected an A in that assignment, but you only wrote to a C+!” A man’s voice rang out from the next isle. Am moved closer, curious.

“And how exactly were you going to explain your sudden burst of genius when you’ve been failing all year?” A familiar voice asked. Am knew that voice. But it wasn’t right. She didn’t sound like she had expected.

“Bitch!” The man shouted and stormed into the isle that Am was stood in. He froze when he saw her, his eyes going wide. “Oh my god- it’s” He managed to get out before Am hit him around the head with the butt of the weapon in her hands. Crouching down to check he was out cold, the familiar voice addressed her.

“Thanks. He’s a massive dick.” Am looked up at the familiar face of Shaundi. Except this wasn’t the version of Shaundi she’d been expecting to see. She’d been expecting the drug-addicted girl with dreads. This Shaundi? She was wearing glasses and had her hair pulled back into a sensible ponytail. She was in the library in the middle of the night offering to write assignments for other students. This Shaundi was a _geek_. Am let out a snort of laughter as she stood up. Recognition dawned on Shaundi’s face as she looked at Am, but Am could see she was fighting the memories that were swarming back. She knew the feeling. She’d fought them too when Johnny and Kinzie had come to her.

It had gone silent outside, so Am assumed that the Rollerz had moved on. Turning back to Shaundi, she smiled.

“I… What?” Shaundi was confused, and Am didn’t blame her. Pulling out her phone, she texted Johnny to come pick them up.

“Sit.” Am pointed at the chair that Shaundi had originally been sat on. “We’ve got a lot to talk about.”

 

**-**

 

She’d picked Johnny rather than anyone else because she knew he’d love seeing Shaundi like this. After he’d stopped laughing, he’d let them both into his car, before turning around and taking a picture of Shaundi with his phone.

“Johnny, I swear to god…” Shaundi warned, glaring at the two in the front of the car.

“This is too fuckin’ funny.” He laughed, putting the phone away. Am was smiling at his laughter. She had to agree, out of the situations everyone had been in, this was almost the most unbelievable.

“Not you too, Boss.” Shaundi complained, pouting.

“You have to admit, this is pretty funny.” Am looked out of the window, smiling. They were so close to being them again. Soon they could come out into the open and take back what belonged to them.

“And you being a spoiled heiress isn’t?” Shaundi asked, disbelief in her voice. Am looked around at her again.

“The theme seems to be what we’d be without the Saints.” She shrugged. “There’s a reason I didn’t talk about my past in the last world.”

“Seriously?”

“Johnny’s a cop.” Shaundi’s mouth dropped open.

“No!”

“And not fuckin’ happy about it!” Johnny put in, as he turned into her driveway.

“What about Pierce?”

“Can’t get to him just yet. In this world, he actually made it as a music producer. He’s out of town, but I think we’ll get a chance soon.”

 

Am had met him a few times in this world. He worked with Eesh mostly, but Am had dabbled in music with Aisha in the past and met him in her studio. When they finally got a plan in motion to get Pierce back, they would have to work on finding a new place for them to make their base. She’d ask Kinzie to scout out some places for her in the morning. It was time for the Saints to come out into the world again.


	4. New Beginnings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang might be new and improved, but there's something that Am wants from the past.

Yet again, she found herself wishing that they could use somewhere other than her living room for their meetings. This was the first time that Shaundi would be properly meeting her old lieutenants, but all she could think about was business. They needed to start making moves, even if Pierce was still missing. It was a Sunday morning, and no one appeared to have anything better to do than lounge around her living room, drinking all of her coffee. Standing, she stood in front of the TV to get their attention. Johnny and Shaundi immediately stopped what they were doing to look at her, and the others took their cue and silenced.

 

“Lin, I need you racing. I want you to take as much of their money, and as many of their cars as possible. Shaundi, go with her. Rile them up and get them angry about it.” The two women nodded and Am turned to Troy and Johnny.

“I want information. I need to know what the police department knows and who’s paying who off. Once you’ve done that, you’re free to leave your jobs.” Johnny pumped his fist, making a noise of victory. Troy looked less happy about it, but Am figured that was something she could deal with later.

“Kinzie, Matt. I want you guys on airports and docks. I want to know what’s coming in. Weapons, drugs, cars- anything they want, I want.” The two nodded and turned to their laptops to start work immediately.

“One more thing, I need money. This isn’t going to come cheap.” They looked between themselves and Am could see an unspoken challenge in their eyes. She didn’t doubt that by the end of the day she’d have several kinds of incomes from various dark-web sources.

“Dex, you’re on recruitment. Anyone who isn’t working on anything can come with you to cover your back.”

“Why do I gotta-“ Am raised an eyebrow at him and he trailed off quickly. If he kept questioning her, she doubted her patience would hold out.

“Now can you all fuck off out of my house?” There was a grumble from the group, but all but Johnny stood, and began making their way out. She heard Dex make some kind of complaint about Johnny being allowed to stay, but Shaundi shooed him before Am could react.

“We’re gonna have some fuckin’ fun.” Johnny said once they had all left, putting his feet up on the coffee table. Am rolled her eyes at him and put his feet back on the floor, before taking a seat where they had been.

“I want the church.” She said, looking at him for his reaction. He cocked his head to the side, furrowing his brow.

“Not the club?” She shook her head. No. She wanted the church. It was where the Saints had begun, and the chance to own it like this was taken from her by Ultor. In this world, she knew that Ultor had just drawn up the plans for the Row. Doing this was risky, but it would not only send a message to the gangs, it would piss off Ultor too. The Saints begun in the Row, and that’s where she wanted their rule to begin again.

“I’m gonna get Lin and Shaundi to meet us there. Text Troy and Dex and get them on recruitment.” She stood again, pulling out her phone.

“As long as I get to murder someone, I’m in.” He smiled at her, and she couldn’t help but smile back. This was going to work. They weren’t going to lose anyone this time.

 

-

 

As they pulled up outside the church, she couldn’t help but notice that work had already begun, but it looked like it had been abandoned. She’d been keeping her eye on the people walking around in red, not surprised that this area was Carnales territory again. Lin and Shaundi were hovering around the side, trying to keep out of sight of the area’s patrols. Johnny checked his gun was loaded before getting out of the car. He had his instructions already, so he headed in the opposite direction. Am knew he was eager to get his kill count back up to where it had been before they had been reset, and she wasn’t going to stop him from having a little fun. Shaundi walked down the steps as Am approached, already looking pissed off.

“Where the fuck’s he going?” She demanded, and Am smirked.

“He’s going to have a little fun.” She said, and gunshots rang out, echoing off of the buildings. She rolled her eyes “I did tell him to wait ten minutes to give us chance to get ready, but you know how he is.”

“You just left him by himself?” Shaundi was angry, but that was nothing new. This reset had upset her, and Am didn’t blame her. This whole thing was on the one hand, a godsend. But on the other hand, it was very annoying to have no one know who the Saints were.

“Johnny can take care of himself.” Lin said as she approached the two, lighting a cigarette. Shaundi scoffed, and Am smiled.

“This isn’t a plane, Shaundi. This is taking down a few guys in red.”

 

-

 

It was easier than she’d expected to claim the Row for themselves. Dex and Troy had come through, and there was a group in the churchyard that Lin and Johnny had decided to canonize. Johnny had come back beaming, which was only a good thing. The guy was like a one-man army, and had taken out most of the guys in the area without their help.

 

Walking into the church, she made her way to the backrooms. They looked almost exactly the way they had when she had joined up, just with less personal affects strewn across the walls. Taking a seat on the desk where she had once sat with Julius, she closed her eyes. Even the smell of the church was the same. That damp aging stone smell that someone long ago had assured her all churches smelled like. It was strange being back here after so long, but she remained confident in her decision to start here. As she relaxed, the door opened and she heard someone enter.

Opening her eyes, she watched Johnny approach her, grinning like a madman. His knuckles were bloody, but other than that, he didn’t look like he’d just beaten the shit out of a group of people.

“I hope you didn’t leave them too injured.” She said as he took a seat next to her.

“None of those fuckers had to go to the ER.” He grinned down at her, and she sighed in exasperation.

“I don’t know why I allow you to canonize, it just all ends in tears.” She tried to get up from the desk, but his arms pulled her back into him. She tensed as she pressed up against him. He’d clearly forgotten what had happened a few nights ago, otherwise he wouldn’t be doing this. One of his hands ghosted across her waist, and the other snaked it’s way into her hair. She wanted to pull back, to say that they needed to stop. But the way he was looking at her stopped her in her tracks. She liked to think that she had good self-control, but if he kissed her now, she wouldn’t protest. She knew how this would end, so she was the one who moved away first.

 

They drove home in silence. Neither of them wanting to address what had happened back there.

 

It wasn’t until Johnny slammed the door behind them as they stepped back into her house that she turned to him, the pent up rage that had built as they had driven home bubbling up and spilling over.

“What the fuck was that?” She crossed her arms, frowning at him.

“Don’t fuckin’ start.” He warned, but she ignored him, stepping closer.

“So what the fuck are we doing then? You said stop, and we stopped!”

“I don’t fuckin’ know, Am!” He turned away from her, his arms thrown up in defeat as he walked towards the living room. She followed him, not willing to give up this conversation.

“For fuck’s sake Johnny, I can’t do this hot and cold! I know you love her, but I’m trying to keep her safe!”

“I love _you_ too! Jesus Christ, Am. This is all so fucked up!” He slammed his fist down on the coffee table, and she flinched as the mugs that had been left from earlier clattered to the floor.

“Don’t you think I know that?”

“I just… She’s _alive_.” He sighed, and sat down putting his head in his hands. “She’s alive.”

There was silence for a few moments as they both tried to compose them selves. What else was there to say? They both wanted the same things, but things were just so fucking complicated.

 

“…I can’t go through that again. I can’t put you through that again.” She whispered, hitting his shoulder with her fist, trying to put what she was feeling into that action. Tears were welling up in her eyes. She loved them both, and she didn’t want to drag Aisha back into this, just for her to die again. That’s when he broke and stood, wrapping his arms around her.

 

She cried until she had nothing left to give. Sniffling in his arms, she closed her eyes as he just held her, saying nothing. She slumped against him, completely exhausted. She felt him adjust and scoop her up, sweeping her feet off of the floor. She wrapped her arms around his neck as he carried her upstairs.

 

-

 

Am was dead to the world when he woke up. She was curled up like a child who had stolen all of the blankets and Johnny knew her well enough to know she’d be out of action for the quite a while yet. Quietly getting out of the bed, he made sure not to disturb her. He smiled as he watched her breathing peacefully for a moment. Looking at her like this, you’d never think she’d be capable of any of the things they’d done together. She was fucking beautiful, and he was stupidly lucky that she loved him as much as she did. He tried not to think about the argument they’d had the night before.

 

Dex was in the kitchen when he went looking for coffee.

“Can you give me a ride? Lin’s already left- something about chasing a lead on a race.”

“Don’t you have your own fuckin’ car?” He asked, picking the biggest cup he could find out of the cupboard. He had a feeling that he’d need it this morning if he was still going to pretend that he wanted to be a cop. He was definitely going to miss the police-issue weapons when he threw in the towel. Though, with Kinzie and Matt on the lookout for weapon shipments, he didn’t doubt if he asked that they would find him a truck to steal.

“Not all of us got that lucky in this life.” Dex said with an edge in his voice.

“Too fuckin’ bad.” Johnny emptied the coffee pot into his mug, and had to remind himself that Dex didn’t remember what he’d done in the last life. Am was adamant on giving him a second chance, and she had promised that he could kill him again if he remembered and dropped his flags again. He sighed and put the mug back down.

“Okay I’ll give you a fuckin’ ride. I just gotta do somethin’ first.” He said, turning back to the stairs, heading back to Am’s bedroom.

 

Opening the door, he wasn’t surprised to see that she hadn’t moved since he’d gone downstairs. Leaning over the bed, he shook Am lightly. She stirred slightly, turning her head towards him, but not opening her eyes.

“Me and Dex are heading out.” She reached out and put her hand on his cheek, mumbling something into the pillow that he couldn’t quite catch.

 

He kissed her softly, and she was awake enough to kiss back. She tried to deepen the kiss, but he pulled away. She let out an annoyed huff of air and pulled the sheets over her head. He took that as his cue to leave.

 

Turning back to the door, Dex was stood on the landing, staring at them both. Johnny chose to glare at him for watching their moment, and was glad Am wasn’t fully awake to know that he was stood there. He didn’t really want to have to clean up Dex’s brains off the walls.

 

Heading outside, he stayed one step ahead of Dex the entire way to avoid any questions he might have. Unfortunately for him, he’d already promised him a ride, and he was actually in a pretty good mood this morning.

 

“How the fuck did you manage that?” Dex asked, climbing into the passenger seat. Johnny just shrugged as he got behind the wheel.

“No seriously, how the fuck did you manage to get not only Aisha, but the Boss as well?” Dex demanded of him as he pulled out of the drive.

“Dex, I’ve told you a million fuckin’ times. Eight. Inch. Cock.” Dex looked disgusted, and Johnny couldn’t help but laugh at his old friend. He’d forgotten how easy it was to wind him up. He sighed and turned to Dex, who just looked so confused. He was struggling to put into words how they’d happened. How had it happened? They were just friends itching an itch, and then suddenly they were living together. He’d fallen so hard for her, that it had taken him by complete surprise.

“She’s like fuckin’ heroin.” He was finally able to come out with, startling Dex.

“What?”

“I fucked her once and I couldn’t fuckin’ stop.” Dex furrowed his brow as Johnny spoke, and he couldn’t help but smirk. He thought back to the first time they’d both seen her as a woman. Not that they’d known it was her back then, and Johnny had gotten in a lot of trouble with Aisha for checking her out, but he remembered how Dex’s jaw had been pretty much on the floor when she’d walked in the room. Not that Am would’ve ever gone for a guy like Dex. Johnny knew her type.

“How did that even happen?” Dex finally asked, and Johnny turned his head to him as he made the turning off the highway.

“We were drunk.” He shrugged, and Dex just looked at him in disbelief.

 

-

 

 

“You got everything?” He asked Troy, wheeling his chair across to his desk. Troy was trying to track down the last file, and then they’d be out of there. Johnny couldn’t wait to finally get back to his favourite activity. Policing had been fun, but it was nothing compared to murdering. Troy just gave him a dirty look and put a file down.

“This ain’t exactly easy, Johnny.” He said, and Johnny could see that he very close to swatting him away like a fly.

“Speak for your fuckin’ self.” Johnny leaned back in his chair. It had been almost too easy to make copies of everything they might need. No one bothered to stop him, though that could have something to do with the death glares he’d given anyone who had approached him that day. The police force weren’t exactly the smartest people in the world, and it showed in their records. Keeping records of who was paying off who was, quite frankly, fucking dumb.

 

His phone rang out, and after checking the caller ID, he couldn’t answer it fast enough.

“I thought we’d celebrate your return.” Am opened with, and he laughed down the phone.

“Who we murderin’?”

“I was thinking on more of the destructive side. Remember when Dex had us smashing up stores back in the early days?”

“Fuck. Yes.”

“Let’s show people that there’s a new gang in town. I’ll meet you at the church.”

 

-

 

“This is a bad idea.” Dex was pacing by the pews as Johnny pulled on his new purple shirt. He could see Am out of the corner of his eyes lacing up her boots while rolling her eyes at him. He was excited to be wearing purple again. It’d been far too long since he’d properly represented the Saints in public. He didn’t count any of that shit on the spaceship as properly representing the Saints. Aliens don’t respect colours the way people do.

“Dex, who’s the boss?” He asked, crossing his arms. Dex was grumbling, but he pointed over at Am. She straightened up and smiled sweetly at him, waggling her fingers.

“Honey, you act like I don’t know what I’m doing.” She gathered up her hair and tied it up out of her face. Dex sighed and held his hands up in defeat.

“Whatever.” He walked to the back of the church, and Am was smirking.

 

-

 

The jewellery shop was their last target. Kinzie had got them a good twenty minutes before the alarm system reset and they needed to be out of there, but twenty minutes was more than enough time.

 

Am was on the other side of the room and he could hear cases smashing, but something had caught his eye. Right in the middle of one of the cases was a ring that was screaming out for him to take. It was rose gold, with a large, raw amethyst set in the middle of it. There were two smaller diamond type stones on either side of it, with the metal reaching up almost across the stones. Smashing the case, he reached in and took it, inspecting it.

 

“Johnny, the clock’s ticking!” Am shouted from where she was behind the counter, and Johnny remembered why they were here.

 

Pocketing the ring, he began stuffing as much as he could into the bag, smashing more cases as he went.

**Author's Note:**

> (My Boss never really had a name until I wrote this fic, and I figured what is a ridiculous name that she would hate?)


End file.
